How To Secure Your Financial Future

Are you worried about your financial future? If you aren’t, you should be. As Bob Dylan said, These times they are a changing. If you put national pride, ego and heritage aside, it is fairly easy to see that the world is changing around us… fast, and that the US is losing ground in many areas. While it is changing, you only have to fear this if you are unprepared. If you see the change coming and prepare for it, you can not only survive, but you can prosper.

How do I know things are changing? Well, things always change. Our country is much different now than it was 10 years ago (pre 9/11), 30 years ago (Berlin Wall and the Cold War), 50 years ago (Vietnam War and the Space Race), 70 years ago (WWII), 100 years ago (Industrial Revolution), 150 years ago (Civil War), 200 years ago (Our country in it’s infancy). What will the future hold for our country, especially economically?

You cannot deny that the world has shrunk and become a level playing field. The United States is no longer the leader. Technology and a maturing third world has changed the nature of the game. This is important to understand. The lifestyle we had over the past 40 years, is disappearing fast. The baby boomers were lucky, they lived in a time where it was possible for governments and companies to contribute to their retirement. This will soon become a thing of the past. Government at all levels have massively underfunded pension plans that will soon prevent them from maintaining our cities, yet alone invest in the future. Gone are the days when unions will win concessions to help their employees retire comfortably. Companies like IBM that used to fully fund retirement plans, have quietly discontinued them over the past 20 years. Times are changing.

So, what can you do? To survive, you must take responsibility for your future. You should be expanding your portfolio, your skills and looking, and I mean actively looking, for ways to make some extra money. All of us are different but everyone has something they can do. Here are just some ideas:

There are tons of ways to make money. The key is you MUST do something. If you want to be successful at it, expect to spend a LOT of time doing it. A leader pays the price.

I’ve been day trading stocks for 4 years now. Every day. Let me say that again, everyday, for the past four years, I’ve gotten up at 5am to drive to a Starbucks near work, and trade stocks from 6am to 8am or 8:30. I lost money the first three years. It was painful. But today? I am making money after learning from my mistakes.

Whatever you choose, spend the time needed to be successful. Success doesn’t happen by accident. The message is simple… You must do something, and you must sacrifice to make it work. No magical formulas or gimmicks. You ARE in control of your destiny. So, turn off the television and sit down and come up with a plan. Then execute.